WARNING: The following contains spoilers from Star Wars: IG-88 #1, on sale now from Marvel Comics.
Star Wars has been ripe with bounty hunters over the years: Bossk, Dengar, Aurra Sing, and Cad Bane were some of the best, but many people considered IG-88 to be the best bounty hunter in the galaxy during the time of the Original Trilogy. With that said, after the droid’s confrontation with Boba Fett in Star Wars: IG-88 #1 -- by Rodney Barnes, Guiu Vilanova, Antonio Fabela, and VC’s Ariana Maher – there was officially a new, best bounty hunter in the galaxy.
During The War of the Bounty Hunters crossover series, nearly every hunter in the galaxy has tried to collect the bounty on Boba Fett that Jabba had ordered against him. The slug of a crime lord was displeased with Boba’s delay in bringing the carbonite-frozen Han Solo to his palace on Tatooine. It turned out that Crimson Dawn had stolen Solo, so Boba had a good reason for being late. But that didn’t matter to Jabba. So, when IG-88 fought Boba in this issue, the droid was only one of many credit-hungry hunters that Boba had fended off on his mission.
IG-88 probably would have gotten in on the action sooner, but he was busy for most of the hostilities during The War of the Bounty Hunters. Sly Moore, who was bound and determined to kill Darth Vader, had hired IG-88 to terminate the Sith Lord. However, as anyone would have expected, Vader triumphed. IG-88 had intended to use a remote to disable Vader’s cybernetics, but the Dark Lord had co-opted the droid’s plan and made IG-88 blow its own head off.
IG-88 was abandoned after that, but Crimson Dawn had a plan. Qi’ra wanted the famed droid to assist in Crimson Dawn’s second heist involving Han Solo. So, she tasked a bounty hunter named Deva Lompop with tracking down IG-88 and putting him on Boba’s trail. After a cybernetic droid smith called RB919 rebuilt and programed IG-88, the droid killed its savior, as ordered by Deva Lompop, and was ready to hunt once again.
Deva Lompop provided IG-88 with specs on Boba Fett and security codes for his ship, and the droid studied them so that it was prepared when it arrived on Tatooine. Noting Boba’s skill and his resolve, IG-88 concluded that he would defeat Boba because of the organic’s weakness of arrogance. Expecting a trap, IG-88 waited for Boba to leave his ship. Wondering what would happen to Boba’s reputation when he returned to find Solo gone, IG-88 entered the ship.
Boba returned in short order – probably warned by an alarm on his ship – and the two great bounty hunters came face to face. They didn’t fight immediately, though. First, Boba insulted IG-88 by talking about its destruction at the hands of Darth Vader. Between that comment and IG-88’s earlier musings, it was clear that each of them was more worried about ruining the other’s reputation as much as collecting a bounty of themselves.
Then, determined to prove its superior skills against Boba, IG-88 then opened fire with Boba following suit. Both dodged the opening volley and exchanged another round of insults when Boba was hit. IG-88 was displeased with Boba’s inability to mount an attack, but Boba wasn’t aiming at the droid. He was aiming at the pipes around it. He successfully hit the carbonite system which expelled its gasses and froze IG-88 in carbonite.
It was ironic that IG-88 went looking for Han Solo’s carbonite and found itself frozen instead. So, in the end, IG-88’s reputation took the hit while Boba Fett was able to escape yet another ambush, cementing himself as the galaxy’s best bounty hunter. Unable to move and left on the sand dunes of Tatooine, IG-88 was forced to wait until the carbonite melted. What the droid will do next is anyone’s guess. He was haunted by flashbacks of being killed by Vader and embarrassed at losing to Boba Fett, so revenge against either could be an option. Especially since he was damaged while being frozen and was free from Deva Lompop’s influence. Time is of little meaning to a droid, so it could come back at any point.